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No matter what varieties of tomato you grow, the plants need some type of support to avoid the vines sprawling over the garden and the fruits rotting in the soil. There are a number of different methods for supporting tomato plants, depending on budgets and landscaping needs. Save garden space and increase your useable harvest by using one of these methods for growing tomatoes on a trellis.

Pruning

No matter what method you use to trellis tomato plants, you need to prune the plants regularly. Pruning controls the number of branches on each plant, which reduces the number of tomatoes that will grow, but it allows the remaining fruit to ripen earlier. Prune suckers, or new branches, until you have only one main branch and one or two side branches. Train these branches around your trellis structure and remove any new suckers you find on a weekly basis.

Fence Tomatoes

Like any vegetable grown on a vine, tomatoes can be trained to grow up a chain link fence. Easy to find in many suburban and city backyards, chain link fencing is free to use and sturdy enough to hold up a large crop of heavy tomatoes. Tie the branches to the chain link structure with soft strips of cloth, thick lengths of yarn or used nylon hose. Tomato plants will grow to the top of the fence, creating a living green wall in your yard.

String Trellis

Use found materials to make a trellis system used in many greenhouses. Create a pair of tripods with bamboo poles or long sticks. Place a tripod at each end of the tomato row and lay a stick horizontally from one tripod to the other. Tie strings to this crossbar and lead the strings down to pegs in the ground next to the tomato plants. Train well-pruned tomato vines up the strings, tying the plants to the strings and adding more strings when needed to support additional branches.

Espalier

When many gardeners think of espalier, they may think of fruit trees, but tomatoes do very well trained in an espalier pattern. Grow the tomato plants in front of a wall. Prune the tomatoes to one central stem and one main stem on each side of the central one. Fix a trellis, wires or used volleyball net to the wall. Train the tomato plants to grow up the support system, up against the wall. The heat from the wall will help the tomatoes to grow faster, while the spreading design will allow more airflow between branches, helping to prevent disease.

About the Author

Working in sunny Florida, Anne Baley has been writing professionally since 2009. Her home and lifestyle articles have been seen on Coldwell Banker and Gardening Know How. Baley has published a series of books teaching how to live a frugal life with style and panache.